13 min readJul 15, 2026 07:32 AM IST First published on: Jul 15, 2026 at 07:12 AM ISTA YouTube video of the Supreme Court’s suo motu hearing into the R G Kar rape-murder case has been viewed 3.64 lakh times since it was uploaded in August 2024 — a number far beyond what could ever have been accommodated inside a single courtroom.Last year, a senior advocate logged into a virtual hearing of the Gujarat High Court, beer mug in hand, phone to his ear. The video went viral within hours, and the bench called the conduct “outrageous”.In 2022, then Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar saw Inspector A M Rathod sipping from a cola can during a virtual hearing and directed him to distribute 100 such cans among bar association members or face disciplinary proceedings.FOR DECADES, India’s judicial system was built around physical files, crowded courtrooms and colonial-era systems. That began changing around six years ago as courtrooms adopted virtual hearings, turning what was a pandemic necessity into a key part of India’s justice delivery system.Virtual hearings have not only made it easier for litigants to follow their cases but also for lawyers to practise across cities and for citizens to access court proceedings. In the process, they have opened courtrooms to unprecedented scrutiny and transparency, changing how justice is observed and understood.AdvertisementIn February 2026, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told Lok Sabha that as of December 31, 2025, High Courts and district courts across the country had conducted 3.93 crore cases via video conferencing. E-filing (cases filed digitally) crossed 1.03 crore and 29 virtual courts processed over 94.5 lakh challans, collecting more than Rs 973 crore — figures the minister cited as evidence to say that digitisation of courts has kept the system moving even as courts struggle with case pendency (five crore and counting).